The Shapeshifting Oriental Detective of Baker Street

A birthday gift from his best friend sends Zhou Heilong back in time to Victorian-era London. This world has the foggy city, gas lamps, and 221B Baker Street, along with countless bizarre, mysterious, and unsolved cases. But in this world, there is no Sherlock Holmes. Zhou Heilong, arriving from the East, rents 221B Baker Street and sets up shop as a 'consulting detective.' He is proficient in deductive reasoning, trace identification, code-breaking, chemical analysis, and martial arts, and he carries with him a cool, modern mind. Blood-written ciphers, locked-room murders, poisonings in wealthy households, jewel thefts, serial revenge, historical mysteries... When the London police are at their wit's end, when the nobility are tight-lipped, and when the mastermind hides in the fog, Zhou Heilong always pieces together the truth from the smallest clues. Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard initially dismisses him but later relies on him. The aristocratic circles question his origins but are forced to seek his help. Royal secrets, transnational crimes, antique puzzles, old Eastern cases... Behind each case, a criminal empire spanning the globe is emerging. And what Zhou Heilong must do is not just become London's top detective. In this foggy city, he must find the only way out for himself and for all those pushed to the brink by fate. 'The truth never disappears; it just hides behind the evidence, waiting for someone to speak it.' — Description from novelcodex.org